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High grade ironwood burls, cocobolo, burls if possible. Ebony, heck it aint woods, but have you thought about synthetics? Carbon fiber, G10, polyester. Then a good stable supply of quality horn, and stuff for spacers. Why limit yourself to woods?

I'm not going to touch synthetics, not my area of expertise or appreciation. As for spacer, maybe I'll branch out someday, but for now I'm going to stick with the trees. Your other suggestion seem to be the favorites so far. Thanks for the input.

There was a piece of Malaysian Blackwood that I bid on a couple of months ago and didn't get. It was in this class, absolutely breathtaking. I was going to put in on the mantlepiece as a work of art. Still kick myself for not getting that baby.

Stefan put it nicely.
The block shown in the photo is end grain. Likes to crack.
Dry pieces cut lengthwise take stabilizing very well and are less prone to crack and warp.
If you can get more of the Afzelia XLay I would suggest that. Especially the high grade figured pieces.
The pieces with clean color and even figure on both faces sells for up to $600 a board foot.
High grade ironwood burl will sell almost as fast as you post it. I mean the real Desert Ironwood from Arizona and Mexico.